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(1863-1914). Although the countries of Europe had been edging toward war for several years, it was the assassination of the Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in 1914 that plunged the Continent into World War I. Francis Ferdinand was born on December 18, 1863, in Graz, Austria. He was the nephew of Austria-Hungary’s Emperor Francis Joseph and presumed heir to the throne. Francis Ferdinand was an ardent foe of nationalist aspirations among the empire’s many ethnic groups. The couple, on a state visit to Sarajevo, was shot to death on June 28, 1914, by a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. Austria’s declaration of war against Serbia a month later initiated World War I.